Bermuda Grass (Bahama Grass)

Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon, locally khabbal or dhub) is the low, creeping turf grass found almost everywhere across the Punjab plains, the Sindh coast, and the Pothohar — the default green mat on lawns, field edges, and bare ground nationwide.¹ It is the country’s premier soil-binder and a dependable green fodder, and on a syntropic plot it is the pioneer ground cover that pins loose soil while taller plants establish. It is also a tenacious weed, so place it on purpose.

Where it thrives

It is a major tropical and subtropical grass, highly tolerant of drought and of heavy grazing, which is why it carries pasture across so much of Pakistan.¹ It tolerates extended drought and even flooding, recovers from frost off its rhizomes, and copes with saline soils.¹ It wants full sun and warmth and will grow on a wide range of soils, from the irrigated plains to dry Pothohar slopes. Shade is its main weakness; under a closed canopy it thins out.

Role in the system

This is a pioneer ground cover and soil-binder, and few plants do that job better. A stoloniferous, rhizomatous mat grass, it roots at the nodes and forms a dense sward that binds bare and disturbed ground fast, and its tolerance of sandy, saline soil makes it a valued stabiliser even on dunes.¹ Use it deliberately to hold soil on paths, swale banks, terrace edges, and exposed ground in the early stage of a planting, where bare earth would otherwise erode or bake. Cut growth serves as chop-and-drop mulch. The one real limit is shade: under a closing canopy it thins and gives way, which actually suits a pioneer — it covers and protects the ground in the open early years and then yields as the taller layers come in over it.

Grazing value

All stock find it palatable and it is highly preferred by cattle, taken as grazing, cut-and-carry, and hay.² Fresh growth runs about 9 to 16% protein on a dry-matter basis, with hay nearer 10%, a moderate but reliable feed, and it is one of the most grazing-resistant grasses there is once established — you can graze it hard and it comes back.² That resilience is why it carries so much of the country’s grazing on ground that takes a beating. The plant also has a long record of traditional medicinal use across South Asia, where the juice and the whole plant feature in household remedies. For a syntropic plot it is genuine year-round fodder off ground that needed covering anyway.

Cautions

Be honest about the other side: Bermuda grass is considered a weed in more than 80 countries, and its vigorous creeping rhizomes and stolons make it very hard to remove from arable land.¹ Do not let it into vegetable beds or crop rows, where it becomes a persistent problem. Keep it where you want ground cover and fodder, edge it with hard borders, and never sow it into land you intend to crop.

Sources

1. Heuzé, V., et al. (Feedipedia). “Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon).” INRAE, CIRAD, AFZ & FAO.
2. Feedipedia. “Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) — forage quality and palatability.” INRAE, CIRAD, AFZ & FAO.